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Guest Character Profiles > Tyler Smith Blake O'Leary, Brody McPharlane

Tyler Smith 2007

When young Mickey Gannon moved to Erinsborough to live with his father, Ned Parker, he struggled to fit in at school and make friends. His dad decided to send him to football training with the Erinsborough Dingoes under-nines team, the Erinsborough Pups. As well as finding himself taking over as the team’s new coach, Ned was also pleased when Mickey quickly made friends with Tyler Smith and the pair were soon great mates, even trying to organise sleepovers after training. Ned had to say no to the boys, as he and Mickey were only renting a room at Paul Robinson’s house. Mickey and Tyler’s disappointment then led to Ned’s girlfriend, Janae Timmins, asking Ned and Mickey to move in with her, an offer they happily accepted.

Over the weeks that followed, Mickey and Tyler became inseparable, so they were both upset when Mickey's mum, Kirsten came to town and convinced her young son to leave with her and live in Adelaide, emotionally blackmailing the boy by telling him that she'd be lonely by herself, whereas Ned would still have Janae and his family around him. Mickey told Ned that he wanted to move away with his mum and so, after one final game with the Pups, in which he scored the winning goal, Mickey said his goodbyes to Tyler but later, when Mickey realised how upset Ned and Janae were, he explained what Kirsten had said to him. Ned was furious with her and, realising that perhaps she didn't have Mickey's best interests at heart, he said that their son was staying with him and they would take it to court if they had to.

A few weeks later, as Mickey started becoming withdrawn and worried about going to school, Ned and Janae were concerned that he was being bullied, or perhaps missing his mum, who had since returned to Adelaide to get her head together. However, it was Mickey's neighbour and adopted 'Pop' Lou Carpenter who got to the bottom of the problem, when he noticed Mickey and Tyler doing some work in the General Store. Complimenting Tyler on his pen, Tyler explained to Lou that his parents bought it for him, to congratulate him on getting his pen licence. Lou then noticed that Mickey was still writing in pencil and learnt that he was one of the last kids in his class still to be doing so, so he explained everything to the Parkers and they all agreed to work night and day, helping Mickey with his writing until he finally got his pen licence.

When Mickey caught Ned and Janae in a state of undress on the sofa, they decided that they'd have to tell the boy about 'the birds and the bees'. They thought the little chat had gone well - using Mickey's cheese and vegemite sandwich as an analogy for two things that want to be with each other and, when they mix together, produce something very special - but later, when Tyler came to visit, the adults overheard Mickey telling Tyler that they had to feed the sandwiches to the pet guinea pig Sally to make her pregnant, and, if they loved their sandwiches enough, they might be able to have babies too. The following week, Mickey and Tyler played a game of hide and seek whilst Ramsay Street put its hard rubbish out for collection, and Mickey ended up using an old wooden chest to hide in, only to become trapped. After searching for hours, Tyler had to give up and go home, while Mickey was unable to get anyone's attention and was taken away by the rubbish men, though fortunately Lou had seen him playing with the chest earlier, realised what had happened and Mickey was found alive and well at the depot.

Trivia Notes
• Blake O'Leary is the younger brother of Fletcher O'Leary, who plays Mickey Gannon. Blake returned later in 2007 as the third young actor to portray Ben Kirk
• Blake played Tyler for his first two appearances, before Brody McPharlane took over the role
• Brody previously appeared earlier in 2007 as the young version of Oliver Barnes in old home movies

Biography by Steve